SMOKING PROHIBITION ADDENDUM

The Berkeley Rent Board is committed to promoting safe and healthy housing for all.To ensure that rental units remain smoke free, landlords should always include a smoking prohibition clause in a lease agreement for a new tenancy.So that no resident is subject to the harmful effects of second hand smoke, we are also encouraging all sitting tenants and landlords to voluntarily agree to sign an addendum to their existing lease agreement that prohibits smoking on the premises if the original agreement does not already contain this prohibition.

A landlord may not impose an enforceable unilateral smoking prohibition on an existing tenancy (See Rent Board Regulation 1313), but tenants and landlords may agree to make the premises a smoke free environment.To enforce an addendum prohibiting smoking when none previously existed, landlords must make expressly clear that the parties entered into this agreement voluntarily.To that end, the Board has drafted language that landlords and tenants may use to append their existing lease agreements.Please click here to view this language (PDF).